Senior Chinese military official visits Vietnam

Nguyen PhuTrong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee meets with visiting Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Gen. Fan Changlong in Hanoi on June 18. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/ Photo by Li Xiaowei)

HANOI, June 19 (ChinaMil) – General Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), visited Vietnam on June 18, and met with Nguyen PhuTrong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich in Hanoi.

During the meeting, General Fan Changlong said that China and Vietnam are good neighbors and partners and are a community of shared destiny of strategic significance.

Thanks to the care and push of the leaders of both countries, the China-Vietnam relations is growing with good momentum, and their cooperation in various fields has yielded good results, Fan added.

China is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative and the Two Corridors, One Economic Circle initiative, and push pragmatic cooperation in all fields for mutual development, Fan continued.

China pays close attention to developing the mil-to-mil relationship with Vietnam and hopes to make united efforts to push it forward to a higher level, Fan added.

Nguyen PhuTrong said that Vietnam and China are friendly socialist neighbors, and the two countries and their Communist Parties are enjoying sound relationship and deepening communication and collaboration in various fields at present.

He added that Vietnam wishes the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC National Congress) a great success, and believes that under the leadership of the CPC with Xi Jinping at the core, China is sure to achieve its goal of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang thanked China for inviting him to visit China and attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, saying that closer friendly cooperation between the Vietnamese and Chinese militaries will help deepen the mutual trust between the two counties and Communist Parties and facilitate the fruitful collaboration between China and Vietnam.

Noting the traditional friendship between the two countries that was forged through war and blood, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that Vietnam is willing to make joint efforts with China to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea effectively and form a code of conduct early in the South China Sea.

He added that Vietnam looks forward to the fruitful development of bilateral and military-to-military relations with China.

Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich marked the substantial progress on the mil-to-mil relations between Vietnam and China in recent years and their sound cooperation in border defense, peacekeeping and search and rescue at sea. The Vietnamese military hopes to deepen the communication and cooperation with its Chinese counterpart and carry forward their traditional solidarity and friendship.

General Fan Changlong reaffirmed China's stance on the South China Sea issue, and stressed that the South China Sea islands are Chinese territory since ancient times.

The current situation in the South China Sea is stable, which is not easy and should be cherished, he added, and urged both sides to abide by the important consensuses reached by leaders of both countries and Communist Parties, step up strategic communication, properly control divergences, and maintain the overall situation of China-Vietnam relations and peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Hong Xiaoyong, Commander of the PLA Southern Theater Command Yuan Yubai, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Department under China’s CMC Shao Yuanming, Chief of Staff of the PLA Army Liu Zhenli, Deputy Commander of the PLA Navy Liu Yi, and Deputy Political Commissar of the PLA Air Force Song Kun, were present in relevant activities.